For junior Nolan Carey, using animation and filmmaking as a creative outlet has given him the ability to express himself and his interests in a unique way.

Carey’s work is displayed on his YouTube channel called “nUGG3TS SFM” where he has approximately 11,800 subscribers and over 4 million views. Here, he shares videos focusing on the independent video game, “Five Nights at Freddy’s”, and occasionally, the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

His fascination with making videos blossomed at a young age, and since then, he has dedicated his free time to developing his skills.

“Back when I was little, I used to watch funny videos on Youtube, and I always wanted to make stuff like that,” Carey said.

At first, a lot of Carey’s creations were made through animation. The early stages of his learning process had a couple hiccups, but they didn’t stop him from continuing to grow his skill set.

“When I was in fifth grade, I didn’t have a computer yet, so I got this little animation software on my iPad that was really bad, so I kind of started learning animation there,” he said. “Then, my mom gave me one of her old work computers, so I was able to download this free app on Steam called Source Filmmaker. I learned better animation on there because the program was used to make actual promotional material for the video games that Evolve makes.”

Not only is Carey able to make videos for personal enjoyment, he also benefits financially from some of the animations he creates.

“I’m mostly animating memes, so if I post that stuff on YouTube, I’ll earn money,” he said. “Whenever I do creative stuff, it’s mostly songs, which don’t make money on YouTube, but whenever I make them, it’s mostly for fun.”

Most of Carey’s big inspirations come from the various YouTube channels and movie directors that he admires.

“I would say [I like] a lot of Team Fortress Two animation channels like the Winglet or Sino. For actual movie stuff, it would probably be from people like Sam Raimi or James Gunn, those are two directors,” Carey said.

Carey receives a lot of support and motivation from his watchers in his filmmaking pursuits.

“Specifically when I post on YouTube, I like when people give me positive feedback or just compliments of what they liked about it, so I can either work to improve the things that need to be improved or just even improve upon the stuff that is already really good,” he said.

Recently, Carey was given the opportunity to join a film class in Media called Media Arts Council Film Initiative (MACFI). This experience allowed him to connect with others who also shared his passion for filmmaking.

“It’s kind of like how you would professionally make a film,” Carey said. “You’d get together and come up with an idea, get some people who would be the writers, and some people who would be the cinematographers and editors, then you would meet up at a place to film.”

On the first film Carey’s group created, “The Table”, the majority of his work was done as the cinematographer and senior editor. After several weeks of editing, the film eventually premiered to an invitation-only crowd at Villanova University and will make its public premiere at the Media Film Fest this coming spring.

Carey hopes to build a career around his passion, and will continue to create videos whenever he can.

“I feel like I’m the best at editing and animating,” he said. “So I feel like I would want to go into one of those two things.”